Floorstanding loudspeakers — Audio Physic MIDEX

The Midex comes from the German loudspeaker company Audio Physic as a three-way tower, unveiled together with the Classic 25 at the 2019 High End exhibition in Munich. In December 2021 the company announced an updated version with its PowerTrain technology, the new HHCM SL midrange driver and an optimised crossover.

Key specs that matter

A 39 mm HHCT III tweeter and a 150 mm HHCM SL midrange sit between two 180 mm woofers with aluminium cones. Audio Physic gives a frequency range of 30 Hz to 40 kHz, a sensitivity of 89 dB and an impedance of 4 ohm, and suggests amplifiers delivering 30 to 180 W. The cabinet is 1120 mm high, 202 mm wide and 340 mm deep, and each speaker needs a floor area of 360 x 450 mm. Weight is about 32 kg in wood and about 36 kg with glass panels. Standard finishes are black, white and anthracite glass, while the black ebony and rosewood high gloss veneers are listed as currently unavailable. Glass panels in almost any colour can be made on request, and the accessory list names a black glass grille and a spike set.

Engineering and use context

Instead of sitting side by side below the tweeter and midrange, the two woofers flank them, with one placed highest on the front panel and the other lowest, a placement Audio Physic uses to limit uncontrolled room effects in the bass region. The cabinet follows the maker's sandwich construction, and its internal reinforcement uses open-cell ceramic foam, a material made mostly of air inside a ceramic network, so the bracing stiffens the box without costing internal volume. A Honeycomb Sandwich Board, first used in the Structure, is also part of the inner structure and is lighter than MDF. The crossover network and the connection terminal are damped, and the terminal carries WBT nextgen connectors. The HHCM SL midrange has no centre spider, and the Midex shares this driver and the third-generation HHCT tweeter with the Codex. The woofers use the Ceramic Coated Aluminium Cone and Active Cone Damping technologies. A truss base of the kind fitted to the Codex keeps the speaker stable and has M8 threads, so it accepts the optional VCF V Magnetic Plus Vibration Control Feet.

Pairing

Given the low nominal impedance quoted above, the partner amplifier should be one that its maker specifies for loads of that value. A bi-wiring terminal can be specified on request.

Alternatives

The four-way Avantera is another floorstanding loudspeaker in the Audio Physic range.